


The Story Of The Handsome Commoner Ichigo And Maiden-Turned-Leek Orihime

by afteriwake



Series: Bedtime Stories [2]
Category: Bleach
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-16
Updated: 2012-10-16
Packaged: 2017-11-16 10:24:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/538455
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This time she wanted to be the beast in Beauty and the Beast…</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Story Of The Handsome Commoner Ichigo And Maiden-Turned-Leek Orihime

**Author's Note:**

> Story idea is based off a comment **laerkstrein** made about using the story of Beauty and the Beast.

“Do you need a story tonight?” Ichigo asked as he made them dinner. He always asked, and most nights she said no, but then woke him up later needing one. He could tell by the way she answered what kind of night it was going to be usually, but she’d seemed to be doing well the last few nights. He’d actually gotten an entire night’s sleep the night before.

“I don’t need one, but I would like one,” she said with a smile from her stool by the counter. He smiled back; she was probably starting to realize that getting the story before bed helped.

“Anything in particular?”

“Well, I liked that version of Beauty and the Beast you did with Chad as the shaggy dog man. But could you do one where the beast is me?”

He stopped what he was doing and looked at her. “You want to be the beast?”

She nodded emphatically. “Like…” She looked around, then picked up a bundle of leeks. “A walking, talking leek girl!”

He stifled a laugh, suppressing it with a grin, then turned off the heat for the now cooked meat. He could assemble dinner as he told the story. “Let’s see…once there was an ordinary—“

“Handsome,” Orihime corrected. “If the girl was a beauty then the boy had to be handsome.”

He chuckled. “Okay. Once there was a handsome boy named Ichigo who lived in a village. On a great hill outside the village was an old abandoned temple. No one went there because it was supposed to be haunted by a horrible monster. But there was also a special plant that grew in the temple, which could cure any disease. Ichigo’s sisters got sick, and he decided to brave the monster at the temple to get the plant and save them.”

“What did the plant look like?” she asked.

“It had small flat leaves and the light purple flowers grew on a vine. It was wrapped around the bell in the temple, according to legend. So one stormy night Ichigo made the trek up the hill to the temple. He didn’t sense anyone around, so he went inside. The bell was in the middle of the courtyard, and he could see the purple flowers. He went up to the vines and snapped off some flowers when he suddenly heard—“

“A growl!” Orihime said with a laugh. “A high pitched growl that was too girly to be a monster’s growl.”

“Exactly,” he said with a chuckle. “He held on tight to the flowers and turned, and saw a weird shape in between lightning flashes. When it got close enough he saw it was a huge leek, with two arms and two legs, with a face imposed on it. It looked angry, but he stood his ground. And when it got close…it stopped and waved, and he could see a face on it. A girl face.”

“Was she pretty?” she asked.

“She had a cute nose, just like you,” he said, reaching out and tapping her nose. She blushed and he smiled. “And pretty grey eyes. She told Ichigo her name was Orihime, and she was supposed to protect the flowers. Ichigo said his sisters were dying and needed them, and she said no.”

“How could she be so mean?” Orihime said. “The girls were _dying_!”

“Ichigo thought so too, so he said he would bring them up just so she’d believe him. But that got to her, and she said he could only take the flowers if he promised to come back, and he gave his word. Ichigo was the type of man who always kept his word, but she didn’t know that. She gave him a magic mirror that he could talk to her with and show her his sisters when they were healthy.”

“Good,” Orihime said with a nod.

“He took another group of flowers and made his way back down to his village. Now, he and his sisters lived in a worn down hut, and he knew that even if he cured them with the flowers they would just get sick again if they stayed there. So he healed them with the flowers, and when their strength returned he took his sisters with him back up to the temple.”

“What were their names?” she asked.

“Aiko and…Tatsuki,” he said after a moment. “Aiko was a tough girl, who liked to play in the dirt with the other boys, and Tatsuki liked to do things around the house.”

She giggled. “That doesn’t sound like the Tatsuki we know.”

“Which is why she never hears these stories,” he murmured as he leaned in and kissed the top of her head. When he pulled back Orihime looked up with a look of utter contentment. “Anyway, they waited _all day_ for the leek girl to come out, but it wasn’t until night fell that she did. She was astonished that Ichigo kept his promise, and his sisters were so grateful to be alive that they bowed deeply and thanked her profusely. Then she offered to let them live there with her.”

“She must have been lonely, all by herself up on top of that hill,” Orihime said.

Ichigo nodded. “She was. Anyway, Ichigo gave her back the mirror, but she told him to keep it. She told him it might be worth something, and there was no food where she was at. He had brought what food and bedding they had with them, and they made themselves comfortable. And Ichigo and Orihime talked, and they slowly grew to really like each other. But soon the food ran out, and Ichigo went back to the village to sell the mirror.”

“There was a nasty man in town named Kenpachi who distrusted all magical things. When he found out Ichigo had a magic mirror he demanded that Ichigo tell him where he got it, and if there was more so he could destroy them. Ichigo refused, and he beat Ichigo up real bad.”

“Poor Ichigo,” Orihime said with a frown.

“Ichigo used the magic mirror to talk to Orihime, and she sent his sister Tatsuki down with some of the flowers to heal him. Kenpachi found out, and followed them back to the temple. When he saw Ichigo completely healed, and the leek girl with the other mirror, he flipped out and started to attack. Ichigo got in the way, and the flowers had given him renewed strength, and he beat Kenpachi up and kicked him all the way down the hill. But he had gotten hurt badly. He was dying, in fact.”

“Oh no!” Orihime said, her hands over her wide open mouth.

“There wasn’t enough time to make the flowers into tea, and Orihime didn’t know what to do. Ichigo asked for a kiss, and she leaned in and kissed him and they were bathed in golden light and POOF! All of a sudden she was a beautiful temple maiden, and Ichigo was completely healed. Then she told him that she was turned into a walking leek long ago by an evil sorcerer who was dying and was angry that she wouldn’t kiss him, so with his dying breath he changed her. When she cried by the bell the flowers came into being, and she knew she had to protect them. Then they turned and looked and saw the flowers had bloomed all over the temple.”

“Oh, wow,” Orihime said, her hands coming down.

“So Ichigo and Orihime re-opened the temple and shared the magical flowers with those who were good, and then they lived long happy lives together.”

“That was such a good story,” she said. Then she crooked a finger at him to come closer. He did, and she pulled him down for a soft kiss, which he returned. “I was wondering something,” she said when she was done.

“Yeah?”

“Do you have to go home?” she asked quietly. “Could you just stay here with me?”

He paused, then looked at her, reaching up to touch her face. “You’re getting better,” he said quietly.

“I know, but I like having you here. It makes me feel safer.” She frowned slightly. “I mean, I know you have a home and you probably miss your bed and having your own closet, but…I’d miss you if you left.”

“I’ll stay,” he said, and he was rewarded with a brilliant smile and her launching herself off the stool to hug him. He hugged her back, thinking to himself that it really wasn’t all that bad, the couch, as long as she was happy. And he would do whatever it took to make her happy.


End file.
